Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  The place was buzzing as crewmen chatted in small knots, comparing notes on their arrival at the red planet. Matt ate a quick meal and then headed down to his room for some sack time. He was going to have to be up early in the morning, and Matt planned on hitting the sack as soon as he got to his quarters. That changed when Matt punched open the door of his cabin and was nearly assaulted by the noise coming from inside. Matt could barely step inside there were so many people crowded into the small cabin.

  “What’s going on?” Matt asked the first person he came to.

  “Join the party.” He said stepping back enough to let Matt in.

  “Who’s idea was this?” Matt asked him over the din.

  “Sparks invited me, I don’t know who the real perpetrator is.” He said with a laugh. “Are you a friend of Sparks or Bounce?”

  “Both. It’s my cabin.”

  The smile left the face of the Ensign that Matt was talking to. “Sorry sir.”

  “That’s ok Ensign. Just tell Bounce I’ll be back after her little party.”

  “Aye sir.” The Ensign said, looking like he might even throw a salute before Matt turned to head back out the door.

  He headed up to deck five, shaking his head to himself as he went. Winding his way deeper into the bow area where the shuttle access hatches were, he found the hatch for the cargo shuttle he had been working in the last few days. With the huge cargo container in place and docked for loading, the only way onto the shuttle cockpit was through the already loaded cargo container to the shuttle’s rear air lock. Matt punched open the large service air lock that attached to the rear loading port of the cargo container, and stepped inside. He hit the cycle control and let his stomach catch up with the rest of him as the gravity fell to zero. As Matt floated in the lock he caught his data pad and other small items that were beginning to float out of his pockets. Collecting them up he shoved the small stuff back into the offending pockets and zippered them shut before grabbing the floating data pad.

  The container door open before him and Matt pushed off the wall of the lock and floated into the cavernous pod where stack after stack of equipment containers had been secured to both sides of the pod. He flicked on the data pad as he slowly floated down the length of the container, looking over the list and mentally checking off each item as he saw its container. Toward the front of the container he saw the two EVA suits racked up and ready for use, his suit showing no signs of the abuse it had received less than a week ago. The suit techs have done a good job patching it all up, he thought to himself as he continued to float toward the forward bulkhead. Bumping gently into the bulkhead, he grabbed a hand hold to arrest his motion before he could bounce back again. He cycled the bulkhead door open, allowing him access to the shuttles air lock.

  The cargo shuttle had a decent sized air lock where the cargo container was attached to allow access in and out of the container from the cabin. Once the forward hatch was closed and the container was detached from the shuttle’s air lock, the only way in or out of the container in space, was the container’s large rear loading air lock, which contained only two atmosphere cycles in its emergency systems. The containers held pressure, but relied on the shuttle or the ship it was attached to for all its life support, except of course for artificial gravity, which the cargo containers weren’t equipped with. This also meant that there were no inertial damping systems to prevent the cargo from being tossed around if it wasn’t properly secured. Loading operations were tediously slow, not because the loading crews weren’t used to working in zero g, but because the lack of artificial gravity meant that everything had to be cycled through the rear lock, which was the only gravity transition for the container.

  He floated into the shuttle air lock and cycled it, the grav generators slowly bringing him back to normal g’s before the cabin door opened for him to step into the small flight cabin. These small cargo shuttles didn’t have lots of space with room for only six crewmembers. He sat down in one of the pilot couches and looked over the panel, searching until he found the control he wanted. He slid the lighting control for the interior lights down until the cabin was lit with only a very gentle glow. He settled back into the soft acceleration couch and closed his eyes, letting the myriad of details slip away as he drifted off toward some much needed sleep.

  Feeling a gentle touch on his shoulder, Matt opened his eyes to see Trina bending over him as her hand moved a control on the panel. He slowly felt the gravity bleed off to zero as she slid the control down the small scale.

  “What’s up?” Matt asked her quietly as he floated off the couch in the now zero g environment.

  “I never had a chance to thank you for what you did. I thought this might be a good time to do that.” She said, as she reached for one of his hands and gently pushed off from the floor, floating up above the couches and dragging him along with her. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck and her legs around his legs to draw and hold them together. “Do you remember your zero g training?” She asked him seductively.

  “I’m pretty sure I can manage.”

  “Good.” She whispered as she moved her free hand between them and began sliding the zipper of her jump suit down, revealing a long arrow of bare skin from her neck to her waist.

  It was nearly 2200 when the two of them cycled out the cargo pod air lock and headed toward their cabins. Matt stopped at his door and watched Trina continue on down the passage toward her own cabin. He hit the door switch and stepped into the darkened room, the party long since broken up. He stood in front of his locker and quietly stripped before heading toward the shower. The warm water felt good swirling around him, cleaning off the sweat he had worked up in the shuttle. After cycling the shower a couple times, he stepped out feeling refreshed and dried off. Turning the light off, he stepped out of the head and moved to his bunk by the dim light of the comm panel. Stepping on the edge of Spark’s bunk he levered himself up into his bunk, and settled in, pulling the covers over himself. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  Morning was heralded in at 0515 by the insistent beeping of his watch. He moved to shut it off, and rolled out of the bunk feeling as if he had just gotten to sleep. He walked to the head and closed the door quietly. He hit the light and stepped into the shower, turning it on and hitting the temp override to get cold water. It had the desired effect, shocking his body awake. He climbed out, dried off and opened the door. He didn’t have a lot of time before he was supposed to report to the shuttle. He dressed quickly, pulling out a fresh blue jumpsuit. Bounce climbed out of her lower bunk, her bare breasts doing exactly what her nickname implied as she walked toward the head. As she stepped past behind him she wrapped one arm around his waist, hugging him tightly to her before she continued on, stepping into the small cubicle and closing the door behind her. Matt smiled to himself as he finished dressing. She was still in the head when he finished and headed out of the room, noticing that Sparks bunk was already empty.

  Matt grabbed a quick breakfast sandwich of bacon and eggs before heading down to the shuttle bays. He was a few minutes early and cycled through the cargo pod airlock. He pushed off and floated quickly down the length of the pod. After his previous evening’s workout in zero g, he seemed to feel a bit more comfortable in it. He cycled the cargo door and shuttle airlock open. He floated in, closed the doors and cycled the gravity, allowing him to walk out onto the deck of the shuttle cabin.

  “Hey Lieutenant!” He heard a familiar voice call. Sparks was sitting in the right pilot’s seat. “I see that you get to see first hand if I can keep us from flying through a planet!” she joked.

  “Hey Sparks. I didn’t know you were flying this hop.”

  “Yes sir! This is my first in the right hand seat.” She said with a huge grin on her face.

  “Well, good luck then.” He said as he squeezed her shoulder gently before settling into a seat behind and to the left of her. Matt watched as she worked down lists of tasks and status screens on the
shuttles systems board.

  “Good morning Mister Molter,” Commander Haskel said to Matt as he stepped from the airlock. “Is everything in order?”

  “Yes sir!” Matt responded quickly as he jumped to attention.

  “At ease. We dispense with those formalities on these small shuttles. Just not room for it here.” He said with a smile. “The Captain asked about you this morning. She wanted me to make sure you stayed out of trouble this trip.” He said with a chuckle.

  “I’ll do my best, sir.” Matt responded as he sat back into the seat.

  The lock cycled again and another officer stepped onto the deck.

  “Morning Sir.” The newly arriving officer said she slid between the seats and sat in the left hand pilot’s seat. She was fairly thin for her medium height with bulges in all the right places. Matt read ‘LT Cowens’ on her name tape over her breast pocket.

  “Morning Cynthia. Are we on schedule?”

  “Yes sir!” She said. “We have a pilot trainee with us this morning to make the trip. This is Ensign Katelyn Sparks.” She said motioning to Sparks in the right hand seat.

  “Good morning sir.” She said, her concentration remaining on the continually flowing lists of data on her display.

  “Going to give us a smooth ride this morning Ensign?”

  “Yes sir!” she replied with a confident smile.

  “Very good. I’ll let you do your work. Just forget that we’re back here until we hit the ground.” He said.

  “Aye sir.” She replied as she continued her work.

  Matt watched her work as she and Lieutenant Cowens worked over their check lists and got clearance to depart the bay. There was a slight bump as the docking clamps unlocked and Sparks nudged the shuttle out of the bay with gentle touches of thrusters. Matt was impressed with her skills behind the stick. The flight down only took about twenty minutes, most of the time Matt spent looking at the Mars landscape though the numerous shuttle windows. They touched down on the landing pad exactly twenty-four minutes after separating from the Saint Claire. Sparks maneuvered them so the cargo pod door was close to the unloading tunnel, which the landing manager stretched out to the shuttle, as soon as they had shut down their engines. Matt got out of his chair and followed commander Haskel into the shuttle air lock.

  “Ready to get to work Lieutenant?” the Commander asked as the lock cycled.

  “Yes sir,” Matt replied.

  “Don’t forget, were at .38 g’s here.” he said before stepping out of the lock.

  “Yes sir.” Matt answered as he followed out. It was an odd feeling, walking with a very springy step. The Commander went to the rear lock and cycled it open for loading operations, allowing both doors to be open at the same time, while Matt prepared the two pallets of equipment for transfer.

  “Welcome to Mars!” a cheerful young man wearing a dark green jump suit said as he stepped into the cargo bay.

  “Thank you.” Commander Haskel replied. “I was expecting George this morning.”

  “Yes sir. He got called away to service a scrubber that went down. He asked me to take care of the load out this morning.” The young man said.

  “Very well. We have two pallets of equipment being exchanged for two others, as well as the normal supply drop. Then we’ll replace the power packs on all four of your rail guns.”

  “Yes sir.” The young man said as he took the data tablet from the Commander. “We have everything ready for you.”

  “Very good.” He said. “Matt, let’s go ahead and do the transfer.”

  “Aye sir!” Matt responded as he pushed the two cargo containers toward the lock on a grav hauler. He followed the young man out the lock into the cargo bay of the Mars dome. There he switched the load with another pair of containers that were loaded with equipment that needed service, along with a number of empty power packs and assorted items headed back to Earth. Once Matt had them stored and secured, he helped the technician pull out the supply pallets that were staying behind, then closed the air lock and returned to the cockpit.

  “All ready to go Commander.” He said to Commander Haskel as he cleared the shuttle airlock.

  “Very well.” he said, then turning to the front he continued “Pilot, take us to the first rail gun please.”

  “Aye sir!” Sparks responded crisply before selecting the frequency for Mars station. “Mars station, shuttle Debeno ready for departure and clearance into security zone one.”

  “Roger Debeno. You are cleared to depart shuttle pad one on direct to security zone one.”

  “Thank you Mars station. Debeno out.” Sparks responded. Then she turned her head and smiled back at her passengers. “Please make sure you tray tables are in the upright position and your seatbelts are fastened… Here we go!” She finished as she launched them up and off the shuttle pad, rocketing into the air with considerable acceleration. Sparks leveled off at about five hundred meters and headed away from the dome, on a direct route to the first rail gun to be serviced. It took about five minutes to get to the rail gun and set down, which was placed on the surface several dozen kilometers from the dome. Atmospheric travel, even in the thin Martian atmosphere was still much slower than deep space. Sparks zeroed in on her target and set them down only a hundred or so meters from the rail gun emplacement.

  “Ok Mister Molter, time to go to work,” the Commander said as he got out of his seat and headed toward the air lock. Matt got up and joined him in the lock, which they quickly cycled before stepping out into the low Martian gravity. Matt headed toward his suit and quickly stripped down to his underwear and pulled the cool suit on. He had never donned a hard suit from a portable station before, but it appeared pretty straight forward. He used a grab bar to hoist himself in the low gravity and drop his feet down into the lower half of the suit. He connected his hoses to the base connectors while he stood in the bottom of the suit and then leaned forward, pushing his torso into suit top as it sat at a forty five degree angle in front of him. He hit a control button that was conveniently located directly in front of the open arm and the suit top swiveled slowly over him until it was upright, the mating rings touching each other. Unlike onboard the ship, the suit arms could be moved, but without any of the power amplification, forcing him to exert much more force to get his hands low enough snap the suit together and engaged the locking clamps. The suit immediately powered up as the latch was closed, the now familiar feeling of the bladders inflating around him. Matt picked up the helmet from the retainer near the suit and put it on. Almost without thinking he ran the safety and status checks to make sure everything was working properly. He was pleased to see that the commander just barely beat him out of the rack, both of them still connecting their gauntlets to the suit sleeves as they walked toward the air lock.

  “Comm check!” Commander Haskell radioed.

  “Five by five” Matt responded.

  “Very good… Pilot we are ready to begin EVA.”

  “Roger, cleared for EVA.” Came Sparks cheery reply.

  The Commander opened the air lock and stepped in with Matt following. The atmosphere on Mars was just a little more than 1 Kilo Pascal, a hundredth of Earth’s pressure. Not quite space, but close enough that without a suit a person wouldn’t last more than a handful of seconds, and those would be excruciatingly painful as the body tried to equalize pressure inside and outside all the cells, bursting most of them. Not a pleasant thought for Matt as he followed the Commander toward the rail gun. As he got closer he realized that it was deceiving how small it looked. The actual gun stood nearly four meters high, but from the shuttle it looked small enough to snatch with your hand. He was drawn back from his mental wanderings by the commander’s radio call.

  “Ok Mister Molter. Did you study up on this procedure?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Very good. Proceed.”

  “Aye sir.” Matt responded as he stepped to the access port of the rail gun and opened the service panel. The indicators showed that the projecti
le bank was full, but two of the three power packs were down to zero. He entered the codes into the keypad to release the spent packs and a small door opened, allowing the two power packs to motor out on racks. Matt stepped back from the panel as the commander picked one of the spent packs up. Even in this gravity, the packs would weigh nearly three hundred kilos. Fortunately the suit support motors didn’t need much power to deal with the weight of the suit in this low g environment, allowing them to use the extra power to help carry the heavy packs. Matt grabbed the second power pack and followed the commander back to the shuttle. They cycled through the air lock, and exchanged the spent packs with fresh ones, heading back to the gun the way they came. Setting the packs in place, Matt selected the routine to move them into place and check their function. The commander watched his every move closely, making sure he didn’t miss anything and that the units were fully functional. Satisfied that everything was in order, they buttoned up the panel and headed back to the shuttle in long bounding steps.

  “Good work Mister Molter. You obviously did your homework.”